Air Canada will introduce the Economy Basic fare for travel over the Pacific effective February 25, 2019. The Economy Basic fare will be offered on select routes and flights to/from Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, as of this date.

The addition of Economy Basic fares to these select Asia Pacific markets will allow AirCanada to offer a choice of products and services that best meet customersí individual travel needs.

The last two characters of the fare basis code for the fare type on your GDS will be:

BA = Basic

Further information on the fare and its attributes will be communicated on February 25, 2019.

Hi, didn't want to open a new thread and figured it fits into this one. Is it possible that AC categorically prevents booking standard economy tickets on very short-notice, i.e. 1-3 days prior to departure? I've just tried a couple of routes from Germany to Canada and Chile and surprisingly, despite Expertflyer showing plenty of availability, the "Standard" option on Aircanada.com has been greyed out every time. Is AC steering people towards more expensive tickets for short-notice flights?

Well there goes the myth of "basic is needed to compete with LCCs". Which LCC flies across the Pacific? Other than Air Canada, of course.

Hong Kong Airlines? Basically all airlines from a China? Plus, CX currently has capacity problem and is bleeding a lot of money. They are selling the YVR-HKG route at crazy low prices, including their J cabin.

Is it possible that AC categorically prevents booking standard economy tickets on very short-notice, i.e. 1-3 days prior to departure? I've just tried a couple of routes from Germany to Canada and Chile and surprisingly, despite Expertflyer showing plenty of availability, the "Standard" option on Aircanada.com has been greyed out every time. Is AC steering people towards more expensive tickets for short-notice flights?

Short simplified answer: yes, and most airlines do this. To book tickets that map to the "Standard" branded fare class is often going to require an advance purchase of 3 or 7 days.

You also need to have "Standard" class seats available on the flights you want to take. The airline only makes a certain number of seats on each flight available at or below a given fare level.

Hong Kong Airlines? Basically all airlines from a China? Plus, CX currently has capacity problem and is bleeding a lot of money. They are selling the YVR-HKG route at crazy low prices, including their J cabin.

Low price is not the same thing as low cost. All the airlines you referenced are full service and do not have equivalent fare types to "basic economy" on AC.

Yes they do, justed they are called different names, but the product is the same as AC.

BS. I checked CX, HX, MU, and CA and none of them offer a completely non-changeable hand baggage only fare ex-YVR. I stopped searching after 4 airlines because that was enough to determine you have no idea what you're talking about.

BS. I checked CX, HX, MU, and CA and none of them offer a completely non-changeable hand baggage only fare ex-YVR. I stopped searching after 4 airlines because that was enough to determine you have no idea what you're talking about.

You do know CX discounts are not available online and Chinese airlines charge differently for NA to Asia? You should not call BS if you donít know what you are talking about. Looking online, does not give you answer like many people think on FT. Quick examples, my Jan flight on CX to HKG. CX J ticket online was $7000 CDN. One quick call to Hong Kong, got ticket for $3900.

You do know CX discounts are not available online and Chinese airlines charge differently for NA to Asia? You should not call BS if you donít know what you are talking about. Looking online, does not give you answer like many people think on FT. Quick examples, my Jan flight on CX to HKG. CX J ticket online was $7000 CDN. One quick call to Hong Kong, got ticket for $3900.

Different airlines treat BE fares differently, particularly for their dime a dozen elites. For instance, I'm travelling in June on UA's brand-new TATL BE fare and have the following benefits as UA Gold:

Meanwhile other airlines, namely AC and LH want to make the experience as miserable as possible for the BE Elite flyer by limiting or even outright prohibiting bag allowance depending on the itinerary and preventing seat assignments altogether! Which begs the question, why should I remain loyal to the airline/alliance if I can't use my benefits with them?! If I'm on the status treadmill requiring me to fly x number of miles and fork of $X to the airline, clearly they shouldn't be nickel and dimming me on the rare occasions that need a rock bottom flight out.

All that being said, I'll be extremely worried the second AC or the other * partners implement Economy Basic on TPAC routes. It's one thing to make the experience miserable on a short-haul TATL flight, it's a whole other to make the experience miserable on an 18 hour long haul TPAC flight!

If an airline makes a fare ineligible for any FF benefits, they are effectively saying "if you are in the market for this kind of fare, we do not care about your loyalty". Which is entirely their prerogative to say. Travellers can then be free to choose the lowest fare without the psychological encumbrance of worrying about mileage accrual.

UA has made certain business decisions about who they want to target with their FF program and AC has made different ones. Remember AC dropped accrual on the lowest fares domestically to 25% quite some time ago. Going from 25% to 0% isn't much of a leap.

I completed a AC transatlantic basic economy flight to London. Overall, no big difference from AC Standard/Tango economy as E75K:

3 Checked Bags

Zone 2 boarding

Lounge Access

25 % Miles (vs 50% for Standard)

Seat selection at check-in or paid advance

On the other hand, restrictions are,

No chance of change/cancel (200 CAD for Standard vs No possibility )

No chance of e-upgrade (** I am not sure if upgrade from Standard will sustain, I won't take as far as co-payment exists )

Considering the price difference, it is not a bad option at least for me.
As for the upgrade, e-upgrade is not applicable but surprisingly I received voluntary upgrade in domestic part legs for each

Quote:

Originally Posted by j2simpso

Different airlines treat BE fares differently, particularly for their dime a dozen elites. For instance, I'm travelling in June on UA's brand-new TATL BE fare and have the following benefits as UA Gold:

Meanwhile other airlines, namely AC and LH want to make the experience as miserable as possible for the BE Elite flyer by limiting or even outright prohibiting bag allowance depending on the itinerary and preventing seat assignments altogether! Which begs the question, why should I remain loyal to the airline/alliance if I can't use my benefits with them?! If I'm on the status treadmill requiring me to fly x number of miles and fork of $X to the airline, clearly they shouldn't be nickel and dimming me on the rare occasions that need a rock bottom flight out.

All that being said, I'll be extremely worried the second AC or the other * partners implement Economy Basic on TPAC routes. It's one thing to make the experience miserable on a short-haul TATL flight, it's a whole other to make the experience miserable on an 18 hour long haul TPAC flight!